Greenpeace

The credibility of the nuclear industry was shaken last night after the estimated cost of cleaning up Britain's atomic waste was raised by a further £10bn.

The latest clean-up estimate from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) suggests the commonly accepted figure of £73bn should rise to £83bn. But the agency insisted that £10bn of income from generating and fuel reprocessing plants should also be taken into account.

Greenpeace Finland said in a statement Monday that Brussels-based lobby the European Renewable Energies Federation had brought an action before the European Court of Justice challenging the European commission's September 2007 declaration that a 570-million-euro guarantee granted by Coface, a privatised company that continues to act in its eponymous role as the French government's export guarantee agency, to Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) did not constitute illegal state aid.

PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace France activists on Wednesday blocked for the second day the entrances of three of the four quarries used by EDF to build its new-generation nuclear reactor, the environmentalist group said.

But French power group EDF said the action was not preventing building of the 1,600-megawatts reactor.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A water leak at Slovenia's Krsko nuclear plant threatened to overshadow European Union environment talks on Thursday, as Slovenia reassured there was no danger and fended off criticism of its handling of the case.

The accident at the plant tripped the EU's "Ecurie" early warning system on Wednesday afternoon, but some member states were initially informed that the incident was a drill.

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Safety controls could be stepped up at Spain's nuclear power stations following a leak at a plant that will require the screening of hundreds of people, a leading nuclear security official said on Wednesday.

Spain's Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) criticized operators at the Asco I plant on Monday for failing to tell it about contamination from a leak which happened last November until April this year.

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace has filed a complaint with the European commission, alleging illegal state aid in the development of the controversial Mochovce nuclear power plant.
"Market-distorting measures" were put in place by Slovak authorities to persuade Slovak electricity utility Slovenske elektrarne, in which Italian firm Enel has a majority share, to participate in "what would otherwise have been an unviable and unattractive project," Greenpeace claims.

MADRID (Reuters) - Radioactivity from a leak detected at Spain's Asco I nuclear power plant during refueling last November was below legal limits, Spain's nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Nuclear Safety Commission sent inspectors to the plant after being told on Friday that a routine inspection had detected radioactive particles on the outside of buildings at Asco I, in the northeast Catalonia region.

MADRID, Spain: Radioactive contamination has been found on external surfaces of a nuclear power station on the banks of major river in northeast Spain, the environmental group Greenpeace said Saturday.

Radioactivity linked to cobalt, manganese and other elements was detected on roofs, fences and other places around the Asco nuclear power station on the Ebro River 70 kilometers (44 miles) upstream from the Mediterranean Sea, Greenpeace said in a statement.